3 1/2 - growing fast!

Our boy is now 3.5 and so many times I think I need to write this down, different things he says or does that are funny or cute.

First let me say he passed his peanut challenge last month! Yay! He had blood work done in March and then the doctor told us he got the lowest score so we set up the peanut challenge. That was tough keeping him occupied for a visit that lasted over 3 hours! He got to eat peanut butter on saltines as well as part of a peanut butter chocolate egg from Easter. The night before he informed me he didn't like peanuts so in the morning as we were leaving I said to my husband, "Wish me luck, he is telling me he doesn't like P-E-A-N-U-T-S," and N said, "Yeah, I don't like peanuts." So much for spelling! He did eat it no problem though! I hope this doesn't happen but if I ever have another child with food allergies I will find a pediatric allergist. The doctor was great but the nursing staff doesn't seem to quite have enough patience with children. It was stressful for me. For example, they have the stickers right at eye level of the kids and they tell him, "Only one when you're done." Okay, that's good in theory but we were there three hours! He was obsessed with them.

We are still carrying around the Epi Pen Jrs. Old habits die hard! What a relief though!

We're still working on potty training. I'm laidback about it even though no one else around us is! He goes when he wants but I don't make a big deal of it. He only has Pull-ups at school right now because I'm almost out of diapers and I had those for a long time and he's about to grow out of them! He is about 33 lbs. and 39" now (as of various March & April appointments). His three year stats were 29 lbs. and 37" I think? I feel like the weight at his 3yo visit was wrong (too low) because he'd barely gained between the last visit and that one and then had gained several pounds in just 3 months! Anyway, I'm not sure what I think about training with Pull ups but I bought them a long time ago and they were what I had in when the preschool sent home the "needs diapers" note.

He had a hearing test done in April as well. Poor kid did not pass. His right ear was clogged with wax (not visible to us) and both ears had fluid behind them. I guess I should have had the pediatrician check his ears first, but now I'll know. So it's been 6-7 weeks and we have to keep going back to the pediatrician for ear checks. The wax is gone as we were doing Debrox at home and then the doctor actually scraped it out and irrigated it. He was not happy when we had to go back again. "I don't like that doctor! She put water in my ear."

Here are some funny/cute things he's said lately.

Monday was school picture day. I said, "Did you smile?" He says, "Nooooo." I said, "Did you make a face like this?" and I looked grumpy. He says, "No! I said cheese and I did a great job," making a fist pump with his arm. I said, "Oh, who said great job, photographer or teacher?" He says, "I did!" Funny.

He is obsessed with Iron Man and Spiderman. He constantly pretends to be them. He'll tell me, "You be the monster, Mommy, and I'll be Spiderman!" Then he slings webs at me.

He loves letters. He first learned O, then N for his name, and then "A like Captain America!" A seems to be his favorite. One night he told me, "Alexa starts with A." Well, more like "Wexa starts with A," and it took me a bit to figure that out. She's a teacher at his school. He knows M and E and C and H and P most of the time. He likes to turn Zs on their side and call them Ns. Ha.

Last night in the tub I took a funny video of him. He has these foam letters that come in a clear canister. He dumped them all out and put the I letters between his toes, turned the canister upside down and used the I letters as drumsticks. He got all embarrassed and stopped though when he saw the camera so I stopped filming him.

His school had a May Fair this week. We all had to send in white T-shirts so each class could dye them their color. His class had red. I asked him how he dyed it. He told me an elaborate story about a yellow bucket with red water and he twisted it and it got wet and now it's red and pink blah blah. He is so cute.

One morning he said to hubby, "Wake up Dada, it's not dark out there. The moon is not there, the sun came up." He loves to explain things by if it's dark or not. He can't take a nap because he doesn't see the moon, it's light out there.

Spring almost passed us by and went right to summer but then it came back. One day it dipped back to the 60s this week (and 50s another day) and he told me, "It's cold but it's not snowing. My head is cold."

I told him we're taking him to Disney this fall. He packed his little backpack with toys, a juice box, a costume and put his sneakers next to it. "I'm all packed for Disney World," he tells me. "I have juice, I have Iron Man, I have Legos and my new shoes." So yeah, I'm not going to mention that again for awhile. The concept of waiting months is hard for him naturally.

He is already planning his fourth birthday. I think he's finally starting to get he has a birthday each year. He kept saying before, "My birthday is over. I'm three, I had a Mickey party." Now he is getting that he'll have ANOTHER party and this time he wants TMNT. I'm already looking stuff up on Pinterest and Etsy and planning ahead! I was thinking of skipping a party this year since we're going to WDW but this is when he's really getting into it and I can invite his classmates and he'll love it.

He's so observant! I got new glasses last month. I picked them up on my lunch break one day about 10 days after I picked them out. He was with us for our eye exams. I picked him up at school wearing them and he peers at me and says, "What are these? They are purple? Did you go to the eye doctor?"

He picked out a baseball outfit one day and informed me that he's "going to a baseball [game]." Go figure that this is the year we did not renew our season tickets! It was just getting to be too much.

A favorite phrase is "Oh, my goodness!" On Easter I gave him TMNT underwear. "Oh, my goodness, that's a lot of Turtle underwear!"

He calls adults "people." One night I was trying to get him ready for bed, diaper and pajamas. I got frustrated and said, "OK, put your own diaper on." "No, Mommy, the people do that for me!" And one day in the food store I told him I was going to get him some probiotics and asked if he'd take them. He said yeah (and he does, loves them, they're chewable). Then I said I'd get some for me too. He says, "Get the one for people, not kids." I totally cracked up.

Scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed one day he saw a picture of a bearded man nuzzled next to a woman. He says, "Oh, look, it's the Baby Jesus."

One Sunday morning we were cuddling in bed. I usually took him to Romp n' Roll on Saturdays but we'd missed that week. "Today is Sunday, where do we usually go on Sundays?" I said, seeing if he'd remember "Mom-Mom's." He says, "Romp n' Roll," and I reminded him that's Saturday and we missed it. So he says, "Oh, LEGOLAND and Disney World." Yep, that was going to be a disappointing day for him!

At Christmas I wondered aloud to him (so silly) if Santa would bring me any presents this year. N informed that yeah, I was getting a car. Then I asked what about Daddy? He said he's getting a towel. I said, "What kind of towel, what do you do with it?" He informed me, "In the kitchen, dry hands." I was laughing! As for himself he told Santa he wanted a Christmas tree.

He loves to hold up his arm and say, "Wait." He is a little bossy. And he takes after me.

He's very possessive of me. If another kid comes near me or sits on my lap he informs them, "That's my mommy."

He's been in his new preschool 11 months now. He did eight weeks of camp, then mini camp, and then the school year. It's hard to believe it'll soon be his second camp season with them. We really like it there although that tuition check is hard to write out!

So I'm thoroughly enjoying this boy. He is a precious gift.

Not to end on a sad note, but we lost two pregnancies in the past seven months. I went through a period where I thought I'd never smile again. In October we had a chemical pregnancy. hCG levels were rising but barely and then I started bleeding and it was over at 5w4d. Then I got pregnant again in December and thought the October loss was a small blip on the radar and we'd get a happy result this time. I was still grieving for October's loss though when this happened so I felt conflicted. But I was excited, so so excited. Everything went well at first, we saw a heartbeat even, but then hCG levels weren't rising properly, growth slowed, and eventually the heartbeat stopped. I lost our baby girl at 11w2d. She had an extra chromosome. It was a few days before my birthday and the other loss happened right around our anniversary so both were pretty crappy this year. We plan to try fertility treatment later this year again. Maybe I'll blog about it on my TTC blog.

Take care!

Third Birthday!

Our little boy turned 3 two days ago. We all took the day off and spent it together, went to breakfast and then a local children's museum. That night S had class so it was just N and me for dinner and on a whim, I decided to take him out to dinner too!

The Saturday before we had a party for him with close to 40 people I think. He had a blast. We had Mickey Mouse Clubhouse as the theme and he talked about his Mickey party for months before. He also talks about all his friends' parties and rattles off everyone who had a birthday in the prior six months. He had so much fun. He says he is three and holds up three fingers...sometimes. Sometimes if you ask him how old he is he'll say Mickey. He's obsessed with his party.

His interests of late are still Mickey and Elmo (good thing because we bought 2015 season tickets to Sesame Place) but also Spiderman, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Frozen (Olaf!!) and Cars. Cars started in February while we were in Disneyland. Spiderman was right before we left when he chose a Spiderman suitcase. He picked out TMNT pajamas in August and has been a fan ever since. We took him to see Frozen last winter and he got hooked on that too. He got lots of Mickey and TMNT gifts this year, as well as a stuffed Olaf he takes to bed every night.

He is very loving to me, his mommy. I get tons of hugs and kisses. When he senses I'm upset he showers me in kisses. He's so sweet. He is quick to tell someone they're "not nice" though too. Daddy is constantly "not nice" as well as friends from school and occasionally me too. :( One friend from school though he deemed "not nice" since the beginning of the school year he now seems quite enamored with. I think he is just overwhelmed by the boy's big personality. He even wanted him invited to his birthday party.

For awhile he used to say "I don't wanna to," which was so cute. He now says it "I don't want to." I hear that quite often! He'll also tell me he doesn't want to go to school some mornings which makes me feel bad for him. One day I told him Mom and Dad had to go to work so he had to go or who will watch him? And he said, "Mom-Mom!" Ha, he's too smart.

He's very independent and bossy! He thinks he has to take care of himself. I'll have his breakfast and lunch packed in the morning and he'll come down and try to pack it again, not believing I already did it.

As soon as the dishwasher or dryer is opened, he's right there wanting to help empty and put away. His one teacher tells me he'll make a great husband someday; he's very neat and puts stuff away. I love how organized he is!

I took him to the credit union last week to get his $5 of birthday money (deposited along with at least another $5 deposit). I so want him to learn saving from a young age. I didn't learn until I was in my late 20s and I so regret that! We took my coin jar and dumped it in. He thought it was great. And of course the lollipops too!

Trick-or-treating was fun this year. He was Jake (as in Jake and the Neverland Pirates) and seemed to be really into it. He does still have a peanut allergy and while we saw no teal pumpkins and lots of peanut butter treats, he did OK. He forgot about the candy once he went to bed so I was able to get all the peanut stuff out (which is basically almost all the chocolate). Poor buddy. I pray he outgrows this allergy. I feel so sad he has to have it! He did outgrow the egg one; egg challenge in March was a "pass." Yippee!

He fights me on baths many nights but once in he'll usually relent and play. I don't make him stay in but I at least make him sit down and get cleaned before he gets out. Then he is very particular about his pajamas. I let him pick but sometimes he won't pick anything.

He wakes me each morning by coming close to my face and saying, "Kindle, Mommy," or "breakfast, Mommy." So funny. His eyes will be still half closed and he's asking to watch a movie/show on the Kindle Fire. He sort of claimed it as his!

He is so cute, I just can't get enough of him! While my heart is aching for another baby I think about how lucky I am just to be his mama. I hope I don't spoil him, I love him so much I just want to give him the world!

Two and a half!

Our boy continues to delight and challenge us on a daily basis.

He got to see his second movie in the theater today (not counting the "mommy and me" matinees I took him to as an infant). We saw Frozen back in the winter and today we saw Planes 2! He liked it, clapped at certain points, said, "Oh, no!" at others, held on to me and said, "Scared" a couple times. He seemed to like it. He did OK, sat still until the popcorn ran out at least. :) We had a large so it took awhile.

We had Early Intervention come out on the 7th to evaluate his speech. Our pediatrician recommended it. He did not qualify for services which was a relief and a disappointment at the same time.

So onto some cute N stories of late...

We went to Costco one day last week. He is such a big helper. I dropped the bags off in the kitchen and then popped over to the dryer to get out some clothes that had been in there since the day before. While I'm around the corner at the washer/dryer he's in the kitchen and I hear him saying, "It's heavy, I got it, it's heavy, I got it." So cute. I went around and he had the bags emptied and he's folding them up. There was some heavy stuff in there.

He started at a new school on 6/23. Wow, it's been wonderful. I registered on 5/1 and put in my notice at his current school on 6/2. May and June were rough for me. I kept worrying I'd made the wrong decision and kept wondering how he'd do at a new place. It turns out it was silly to worry. He's been so happy there, blossoming I'd say. He misses his friend G I'm sure but we got them together for a playdate last Sunday and will do so again in a week or so. His new school is on a farm so he has an absolute blast there, swims daily, rides ponies twice a week (which he is actually DOING now, so I can't wait to take him back to the zoo to see if he'll ride there!), and so much more! This place has so many playgrounds, he just can't get enough. So one day I pick him up and he has a small scratch on his face. The teacher is explaining to me that he and another child were fighting over a toy and the child scratched him. N comes up to me with a ball and says, "My ball!" I say, "No, honey, that belongs to the school." The teacher says, "That's what they were fighting over." Aha! So we get in the car and halfway home he says, "Mommy, it is my ball. Auden is not nice." I chuckled to myself. He definitely was not happy that day with A. Ha ha!

There's a dairy near his school that has delicious ice cream. My plan when we first enrolled him there just for the summer was to stop there on Friday nights for ice cream. In five weeks of camp so far we've only been twice. Last week was one of the times and while we were in there he shyly points and I didn't know what he was pointing at. Then I realize it's his counselor/teacher. He spotted her before I did and before she spotted us. I told her the teachers in after care told me he's so sweet and quiet and she said he isn't quiet really and he holds his own. Ha ha.

He is very bossy with his little cousin A. It is funny. He sets out toys for her as if to say, "Play with these, and leave my MegaBloks alone!" It may also be that he is just taking care of her too as he likes to do that, but it's hard to say at this point. He got a hair cut today and they offered him a lollipop and he tried to take three and I knew what he was doing, getting one each for S and me as well, but the woman just seemed to have this attitude that he was being greedy and kept pulling the bowl back. I knew he'd stop at three but she didn't. He is very caring that way.

If I say, "Ow!" he'll always say, "OK, Mommy? OK?" Very sweet and caring. I could smooch him up!

We're having a busy and fun summer. I put his gym membership on hold because of it, plus it'll extend it from late January on into the dreary winter giving us something to do then. We took a trip to Knoebels 7/4-6. That was fun except for when he unbuckled himself on the helicopter ride and stood up!! I wanted to faint! And we're doing an overnight to Lancaster second weekend in August. Then our big trip for a whole week is the shore over Labor Day week. We've also visited the Please Touch Museum, Dutch Wonderland, and the June Fete. He gets on rides monthly! We haven't been to the zoo since April and our membership expired in June. We'll renew it soon I think. I just didn't want to do it until we could actually go. I'm so tempted to join Sesame Place too but S isn't agreeing.

I started working on weaning back in April. April 4th was the end of nursing to sleep. Then by mid June I cut out the morning nursing session due to medication I was taking. Once that was out of my system I let him go again (he never stopped asking) but then over the course of the next month I realized he forgot how! Or lost interest. So we made it to 31 months I guess. It's hard to say an exact age, it's so gradual. He'd nurse one day and not the next and then not again for days. And then it just stopped. the last few days he's latched on for like two seconds. So yeah, I don't really count that. I miss it a little, I feel bad he didn't get to pick when, and I also feel relieved. Such a mixture of emotions and a bittersweet time.

So that's all I have for now, catching you up on 2.5-year-old N! He's actually 2 2/3 by now. :)

Two-Year-Old Talk

Our boy's language is rapidly changing so I wanted to devote a blog post to the things he says in a cute way before they disappear forever!

Yayo/Melmo/Elmo - he finally has Elmo after his adorable former versions.
BeeBee - Big Bird.
Cookie - he says it like Cookie does when he is gobbling up cookies. Truly adorable.
Ka/Gickey- Mickey  - we have no idea where Kacame from but he is getting closer now!
Momby - what he sometimes calls me. He used to call me Mama and a few months ago it morphed into Mommy but sometimes he says Momby which is funny.
Did-did-da - his name. Ha!
Mumma - Mom-Mom (maternal grandmother).
Babbin - Gavin (his friend from school)
Keeka - Jacob (another friend)
Anna - Brianna (another friend)
Chussie - Chelsea (a family friend)
Happy  - Happy birthday - he says this when he sees cake or flames.
Bop it/dop it - stop it - cracks us up.
Non nice - not nice - also cracks us up as he says it in a reprimanding manner
Kas - socks
All doe - all done. Also used to mean "all gone" but that is now pronounced with more of a g sound than a d sound.
My - mine
Tee - teeth. He always wants to brush his "tee."
Ca - cat
Tank a - thank you
Bawu - blue - his favorite color and the only one he consistently gets right.
Auwa - orange
Gee - green
Ou si - outside - he loves it!
Yim - Junior Gym - a gymnastics program he attends.
Wa - watch - he hands me the remote and says, "Wa Elmo?"
Dindle - Kindle - he hands me that as well and says, "Dindle, Boof Coof?"
Boof Coof - Blue's Clues - see above.
Goggie - doggie
Biaper - diaper
Pan - pants
Mook - milk
Nana - banana
Appee - apple
Papee - paper
Buppy - snowman
Popky - popcorn AND pumpkin
Cackie - cracker
Fossie - fishie (as in Goldfish crackers)
Beah - bear
Bup - cup
Chee - cheese

As you can see, many of his words are just leaving the last sound off. I heard that's pretty normal.

He quacks and barks and meows pretty well. His dad does pretty good animal noises so he gets it from him I suppose.

For lions, tigers, etc., he just roars.

He says a lot of words very well; I could never list them all but some that come to mind are car, baby, hat, monkey, eye, bowl.

Two years old! And potty training boot camp!

Two years old! My son is two. Mind-boggling! So many people comment on how old he looks. I also still get comments about how big he is but at his two-year check-up he is right at the 50th percentile at 26.8 pounds and 34" tall.

We had an Elmo party on the 16th with 30-some people. He loves Elmo and he loves Mickey too so it was hard to pick, but hey, I already had an Elmo cake pan and I figured Elmo had a shorter "shelf life" and we should do it while he loves Elmo and he may still love Mickey for years to come. I did make the cake and I was very proud of it! He loved it, although he didn't seem to love it as much as my niece did when I made it for her second birthday seven years ago.

He got a lot of wonderful gifts, books, clothes, toys.

Some of the cute and funny things he is doing these days are sneaking into the bathroom while I'm showering to pick up my laundry off the floor. Hilarious. My two-year-old is cleaning up after me. He is a bit of a neat freak. Whenever I sing, he says, "Row row." He is requesting "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and as I sing it, he sways and "rows." And covers his ears but I'm not sure what is up with that. Whenever he makes a mess or sees someone in a movie or show making a mess, he says, "No, no." But in the same tone as you'd say "Oh, no."

I was waiting for a 3-day weekend to try potty training boot camp. He has been acting interested for awhile. He tells me when he poops and every morning he has been taking off his pajamas and diaper and heading to the bathroom. I bought him a potty back in the summer and he peed in it once when he was around 22 months but mostly he just plays with it. But lately he has been getting angry when I put a diaper on him and since he was telling me and acting interested, I thought I'd try the boot camp. Today was day one and it went OK. He only had one time where he made it to the potty but he knew when he had an accident most of the time and would exclaim, "No no! Poop!" (It was just poop once but he calls poop and pee both poop. Ha ha.)

Two months til 2!

I can't really believe I let the blog go this long! I write so many posts in my head but never get to to the computer to type them!

Our little guy is growing up! Some of his favorite things to do now are to help us; he likes to empty the dishwasher and empty his hamper into a basket and even carry the laundry basket downstairs. He loves pitching the clothes into the washer and attempting to fold.

He says mama (and mommy), dada, monkey, teeth (as in brush his teeth), his new little cousin's name (aw!), the name of his little friend at school, Mickey, Elmo, Cookie (but all the rest of the Sesame Street characters are also Elmo, at least the furry monsters are), banana, apple, ball, baby, cup, uh-oh, no, yes, my, balloon, belly button, go, poop (means poop, pee, and diaper), please, thank you. He says, "Wanna watch" and hands me the remote. He also says "wa" for when he wants to walk and makes that very clear. He says "muah" when he kisses someone or blows a kiss. He is obsessed with babies and will kiss my screen if there is a picture of a baby there. He was checking out the baby in the director's office one day this week. He was pointing, saying "boo-boo", and blowing him kisses. He really melted my heart.

We are planning an Elmo-themed second birthday party. He adores both Elmo and Mickey so it was a tough decision but I think Mickey might appeal to him for a longer time so I thought we'd save Mickey for another year. He might be Mickey for Halloween though!

He scraped up his nose pretty bad the Monday before last. I was upset but he seems OK. One spot on his nose seemed worse than the rest and he keeps picking at that scab.

He got blood work today; so did I . I went first and as soon as he saw the woman coming at me with the needle he got the strangest look on his face and told her no. He flipped out when it was his turn; I felt sooo bad. He kept kicking and telling her to go. He was just so upset.

Tonight was his first time sitting in a booster seat. It was kind of a disaster. They had no high chairs available. He wouldn't stay still and kept climbing all over.

Tonight was also his first night peeing on the potty! First he stripped naked for his nap which I found hilarious! Then tonight he spotted his potty and instantly wanted his diaper and pants off. So I helped him. He was climbing all over the house and I said, "Hey, sit on the potty," and he did. His potty has a flusher on it and he got up and flushed it. I was shocked when I looked in and saw pee in there. I was so proud of him. I hope he keeps it up. I was going to do the 3-day method Thanksgiving weekend but now I'm not sure. I will see what happens between now and then.

Gifts From My Son

So my son has been giving me the gift of being up before the sun. One of these days I need to stop and actually look out the window and watch the sun rise. He is becoming quite the early riser and I did much grumbling about it before deciding to view it as a gift. Today we ate breakfast together. I can tell you before today that has never ever happened on a work day. I changed my hours as of 5/28 as well; I now go in at 8:30 rather than 9:00. I figured I am up, so why not? I love getting home a half hour earlier too. I'm showering at night as well; that is not necessarily a good thing. I love my morning showers but it helps me save time in the morning.

N is no longer the baby on my side of the family. I have a new niece who was born on 5/28 at 10:27 a.m., weighing in at 7 pounds, 12 ounces. So far his reactions have been to smile at her while I'm holding him and to cry when I'm holding her.

He likes to point to images now and say something like "that." The first time he did it he pointed at a picture of a cat, so naturally I thought he was attempting to say "cat." But today he did it for Elmo and Cookie Monster and I think he is saying "that" because I often point and say, "Who is that?" He is too funny. "Uh-oh" is simply his favorite word right now though. He will purposely drop something just to say "uh-oh."

Eighteen Months Old!

Oh, wow, I knew I missed posting in April but hadn't realized I missed March as well! There is so much to share! I hope this post doesn't ramble too much.

I'll start with today. Our little man is 18 months old! Happy birthday, N! We had his portraits done yesterday in his baseball jersey. A baseball and bat were two of the poses. That was fun. He kept throwing and running after! We did manage a few good shots. I told the photographer she could stop with less than 10. There were some cute ones and honestly, the more they take the harder time I have deciding.

I guess the big news for April was he had a little surgery. We drove to Albany, NY, to see Dr. Kotlow for N's lip and tongue tie revisions. We knew he was tongue tied shortly after birth but we didn't know much about it. All the medical professionals told us since he was nursing well, we could just take a wait-and-see approach. Poor little guy had been through so much already I agreed. If only I knew then what I know now. He did breastfeed fine and he gained weight rapidly. But then at his nine-month well baby check his doctor felt he wasn't eating enough solids. She sent us to see a pediatric ENT who agreed he had a tongue tie and said we could wait, he could clip it in the office but might not do a great job (due to his having teeth already) or we could book the procedure for the OR. I knew I didn't want the OR thing. So we left and figured we'd decide later. Fast forward to February I am a La Leche League meeting and a woman there had just driven to Albany to have her two sons revised. She showed me pictures of her older son's lip tie and I thought N didn't have that. I lifted his lip and was shocked to see he did! His front top two teeth came in with a gap. So after much thought, discussion, and research, I decided I wanted N's fixed as well. Yes, he was old enough nursing was essential anymore but I read about the consequences of unresolved ties. We booked the procedure and the hotel and drove up to Albany on a Sunday. (The reason so many people go to Albany is Dr. Kotlow revises with NO anesthesia and he uses a laser instead of scissors.) He had the surgery on a Monday morning. The doctor talked to us for a bit, put on a video for us, and when he came back in, N just held out hsi arms to him! I was amazed; he doesn't usually do that. So the doctor said, "We'll be back." I didn't realize it was time! But he was only gone six minutes. He came back red-faced, sweaty, and crying. I held him for a bit and he nursed and then he was just fine! In fact, he was all smiles when the doctor came back, even gave him a smile and a high five. The ride home was pretty long but he did well.

So that was not even three weeks ago and he has started saying new words now. In addition to mama and dada which he was already saying, he now says thank you (heard it only once), uh-oh (says over and over and over), poop, bye-bye, mine (occasionally), and I think hi as well. So he had six words by 18 months. Woo hoo!

We had to do stretches so the tongue and lip wouldn't reattach. The tongue was nearly impossible as he had nine teeth already (just got his tenth a few days ago). The lip was easier. For the tongue he said to put peanut butter on top teeth. He is allergic to peanut butter so we used sunflower seed butter (which he loves). It has a similar consistency to PB so I think it had the same effect. He really had to work that tongue to get it off his front teeth. As of today, I saw NO reattachment so that is good.

He had a new teacher at school from 1/21-5/10. I was sad to see her go. He is now with one of the college students; she is great and I really like her. He moved from Toddler A to Toddler B in March (the 18th I believe). He is doing well! He is starting gymnastics now (Junior Gym Nest). He went Friday for his first class (a free trial to see how he likes it) but he did not participate just watched (which is normal for a first time) so they sent a note saying he can continue to watch for free. Once he starts joining in then we will pay. I'm excited. I never was involved in any of that so I want that for him.

He just loves to help. He helps put stuff away. Whenever I'm in the kitchen and open the fridge, he is right there filling it with bottled drinks. He is getting independent. For the past few weeks he has tried dressing and undressing himself. He gets his coat and runs to the door and wants to walk to the car by himself when he sees I am ready to leave. He is getting to be a better eater too. He was anti-meat for awhile but today he ate maybe one-third of a hot dog at a baseball game and then he ate chicken for dinner but wouldn't touch mac 'n cheese. Yay!

He had his first ER visit in March. It wound up being a not-so-big deal but it was scary at the time. He and I were sick with a virus. We went to urgent care on Sunday but there wasn't much they could do for us. I stayed home Monday and Tuesday with him and as he napped Tuesday I figured we were well enough to go back to work and school Wednesday. (He had also stayed home with S on Friday so it had already been awhile.) When he woke up from his nap he was covered in hives. Big, ugly, nasty hives. Welts really. I was alarmed. He has food allergies and very sensitive skin. We had recently been having issues with detergent but not a detergent I had used on his stuff. I didn't know what to think. I gave him Benadryl, and called the doctor. They said to bring him in. She thought it was an allergic reaction and prescribed steroids (oral). I gave him him his first dose and he got even worse later that night. It was terrible. I called her and she called back and I was crying. She said to go to the ER. I mean, he was just covered in welts and he was clawing at them. He was so miserable and I could see why! At the ER they said it was the virus coming out of his body. They gave him a steroid shot. We stayed home Wednesday and he was still no better Wednesday night. I called the doctor and they said to come in. she still felt it was an allergic reaction and said to get in to see the allergist. So I called first thing in the morning and got an appointment. He and I went back to work and school Thursday afternoon. And Friday was his last breakout. it was so horrible. Poor little guy was just miserable.

So I think that is a good update for now!

My little mischief maker!

N is just cracking me up these days. He likes to run away and hide from me and when I come after him he says, "Ha ha ha." He loves to climb the steps and go to the bathroom and shut the door behind him. He is all about shutting doors these days! He also loves to put his puzzle pieces in a bag and carry it around. He comes downstairs in the morning and goes straight for the bag of puzzle pieces. He also loves to "help." He put a bunch of (clean) clothes in my hamper the other day. He was very pleased with himself. Mm, I love that boy.

We took him to his 15-month appointment last night. He is still 24 pounds and is now 31" tall and his head finally grew; the nurse measured 18.5" although I could have sworn it was 17.5". But it grew. It was 17" for a long time. He got three shots; they still make me sad. These were the first three in his arm; up until now they were all done in his legs. He got varicella, Hib, and MMR. The nurse blew up a glove for him and kept whacking S with it. N was giggling. We brought it home with us but now he is scared of it! He still thinks it's funny if I hit his daddy with it though; he just doesn't want it anywhere near him!

February Update

Our little guy N is just about 15 months old now! He is walking very well. He still occasionally falls over but his balance is pretty good. He likes to "run" away from me now. He escapes from the bedroom and goes to the bathroom and shuts the door behind him. When we're downstairs he'll go to the stops and climb up and wave bye to us from each one. Once I catch him it's a big gigglefest!

He still loves to answer anything that looks like a phone. "Hello?" And he points remote controls or anything that looks like one at the TV and presses the buttons. He is a little thief too! I had the diaper bag all packed the other day with his sippy cup of water. And when we got to my sister's (2 hours away!) the cup was not in there. I ran out to the car and it wasn't there either. When we got home I found it on the kitchen floor. He must have taken it out of the bag and ran to the kitchen. He loves going through the cabinets.

He is doing pretty well in the toddler room but he has gotten clingy again with me. His first few weeks in there he was very happy to scamper off and when I'd come to pick him up he would just continue to happily play. Now as soon as I put him down he cries. It really saddens me. I think it's good for him to be there; he gets to learn so much he'd never learn at home. But I do wish I could spend more time with him. I wish I could work part-time.

They tell me he's eating better there. I still don't feel like he's a great eater. He is picky too. He doesn't eat much meat and he'll only eat pureed veggies. Hey, I tried baby-led weaning first and he was never interested in veggies. His first food was avocado and broccoli wasn't far behind! He still is not interested.

I am so enjoying watching my boy grow up. He is such a joy and a pleasure, and yes, a tiny bit of a challenge, but totally worth it! <3

January Update

Our boy is walking all over now! He started transitioning to the toddler room at his school three weeks ago and his first day there is when he started waking close to 100% of the time. He seems so grown up now. He doesn't seem as clingy as he used to.

Some adorable and funny things he has done lately are: wipe my noise with a tissue (payback, Mom!), as well as put his cup on a coaster on the end table. He points remotes at the TV and " answers" anything shaped like a phone. When he is in the tub, he grabs his Aveeno Baby wash as soon as he sees me get the washcloth and he turns it upside down and "pours" it onto the washcloth. So funny.

Christmas and a New Year!

The holidays passed in a blur this year. We have been fighting a lot of sicknesses here. Baby boy N had a fever before Christmas and then the weekend before when we were going to be celebrating with my family he seemed sick. Hubby S got sick the weekend before as well, with the same thing he had back in September where he coughs til he throws up. I have a touch of it too but not as bad as he does. We actually all went to urgent care last night. I have an earache and S may have pneumonia but we never heard for sure.

N enjoyed opening his Christmas gifts. At first he'd only be interested in the first gift and wouldn't care to open a second gift. But then he loved it and he started opening gifts that weren't even his. He also took off walking on 12/22, taking way more consecutive steps than he ever had, at my parents' house. He continues to walk like that, never all the way across the room but 5-6 steps in a row. He is a bit wobbly; it is so cute. He carries a blanket around with him though and it trips him up all the time. I wish he wasn't so attached to the blanket because it is sad to see him trip!

N and I had such a cute moment on 1/2. He was eating some puffs (he loves the apple-strawberry flavor from Target, yay!) while sitting on my lap and I kept pretending to try to eat one out of his hand so then he fed me one. And then he kept feeding them to me and I couldn't get him to stop. Then one fell down my shirt. I was wearing a V-neck. I said, "Oh, where did it go?" and he kept saying, "Ah go?" And then I pulled it out and he just giggled. So then he thought it would be funny to start purposely putting them down my shirt and he'd say, "Ah go?" and then he would crack up when I pulled it out. It was so stinkin' cute! It was the first time I heard him try to repeat a word I was saying. He was clearing saying "go." Ah, I ♥ my little munchkin!

So here we are in 2013! I wonder what this year will bring! I'm hoping we can conceive a new sibling for N but we will see.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

It's almost time for N's second Christmas. I am excited for him to open his presents but honestly, we could have just wrapped a bunch of boxes filled with tissue paper and he'd have two of his favorite things, paper and boxes. Wow, does this kid love paper. His eyes light up when he sees a napkin, a paper towel, a pile of newspapers, a roll of toilet paper, you name it. You rip any paper you get into shreds.

So far I have purchased for him a Tag Jr. (Scout) (because he got some Tag Jr books for his birthday but had no Tag Jr), a Hallmark recordable book (hoping to make that an annual tradition, this is year 2!), a bunch of musical instruments AKA a baby band, a wearable blanket and a pack of Onesies (wow, cool, Mom, buying CLOTHES for Christmas...hee hee). I really wanted to get a toy box but I think I waited too long.

Happy First Birthday!

What a bittersweet day. I now have a one-year-old! I will update with his latest milestones. He took a few steps on Friday (11/16) but is not walking steadily yet, which is just fine! He has six teeth now, four up top and two down the bottom. He got all the top ones in October. Busy month!

One less than exciting new thing he is doing is throwing tantrums. S calls it flopping like a fish but N will just throw his head back and flop back wherever he is. He doesn't care if there is only a hard floor underneath him or worse, a table behind him. I keep having to do diving catches so he doesn't injure himself.

We had his party on the 11th, a bit early. He was so cute with his cake. He took polite tentative little swipes of icing and then finally grabbed a fistful and went to town. We had a rubber ducky theme; everything was aqua and yellow. He got a lot of nice gifts and a good chunk of money which I deposited right into his savings account. I joked how he has almost as much money at a year old as I did at 18 years old! I'm really not joking though. I only had about $300 and he has over $250!

Here is a letter I wrote to my wonderful baby on his first birthday:

My precious son, I can hardly believe you are a year old already. This was quite possibly the fastest year of my life. I long awaited the day I'd become a mother and now that I have a year under my belt, the experience has not disappointed; in fact, it has far exceeded any ideas I had about the experience. It has been challenging at times, of course, but mostly it has been amazing and so rewarding. Going from holding an innocent helpless newborn to watching a little boy zooming around a room and hearing him "talk" and watching him learn is such a rewarding journey.

You love music. I find you dancing (bouncing) along to songs. And you seem to be drawn to books the same way I am. I hope you will discover the joy of getting lost in a book; it is one of my favorite pastimes. You love to laugh. I like to be silly with you, bouncing things on my head or picking things up with my toes; you think I'm hilarious. Your giggles are the sweetest sound I've ever heard, okay, maybe second to hearing your cry for the first time, which brought a feeling of such relief that you were finally here and going to be just fine! I went through so much to bring you into this world and I would do it all over again a million times to ensure your safe arrival. Your birth went quite differently than I planned. I pictured welcoming you into the world either in water or on our bed. Instead you were born in a cold operating room. It didn't matter to me that day; I just wanted you to be OK. It took months for the grief to hit me, to realize how grieved I was, to see how "sterile" and "cold" your entrance into the world was when I wanted it to be warm and real. You seem completely unaffected by it, and for that, I'm so grateful. I am sorry I couldn't have your entrance be a more peaceful one; I'm sorry every day. But you're good, so good. And I'm doing all right. Your father has had to hold me many a night while I sobbed for what I missed. I will not call the birth horrible though; it brought you to me and there is nothing horrible about that. You are my sunshine.

It appears I am your favorite person in the world and wow, does that feel good. You are definitely a Mama's boy. You are so handsome; I finally see your daddy in your face. When your eyes are closed or when I see you from the side profile that is when I see your daddy. You sure shocked us by having blue eyes! They are such a beautiful blue. I have always loved blue eyes but never imagined I'd have a blue-eyed child. You are full of surprises. You are so smart and determined. You do not let obstacles stop you from getting what you want; I've been told I am raising a strong-willed child. And I do not disagree. But you are so sweet. You love to cuddle. You love to find your way onto my lap as you've found your way into my heart.

Leaving you when I had to return to work was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. It felt like I was leaving a piece of my heart behind. Watching your little personality develop at school and seeing how much you learn and how you are making friends helps ease that for me. I know it is good for you to have your independence. We get lots of quality time together on the weekends and evenings. And it is important for you to have strong role models in your life and I hope I am that for you as I balance motherhood (my most important job!) with my career.

I took your picture quite often. I took monthly pictures with stickers for your Onesies and then almost every Saturday I took a weekly picture. Wow, was that a challenge by the end of your first year. You did not want to sit still for even 10 seconds. I think we did a good job capturing most of your milestones on film. I will enjoy looking back at these pictures in the years to come and I hope you enjoy them too. It is sweet to see you go from lying to sitting to standing, from being toothless to having six teeth, to having a good amount of hair to having tons of hair (we say that you are "blessed in the hair department").

I have to be careful not to dwell on missing the newborn days. They were special, getting to know you, being so proud that this adorable boy was mine, watching your dreamy smiles and your milky smiles, holding you close. But now you are just this awesome little person who makes me laugh every day. I have so many hopes and dreams for your future but most of all I just want you to know how much you are loved. You've brought so much joy to our lives; we will never be the same!

With all my love,
 Mama

Birthday month has arrived!

This is going to be a big month! Our baby boy N is turning one! I am pretty sure this was the quickest year of my life. Each day for the last few weeks I think, "Last year on this day I..." On October 1, I was remembering my baby shower. Columbus Day weekend we were back down the shore where last year on that weekend I realized I'd no longer just be an aunt to children (was with my nephews and niece) but that soon (the next time I saw them) I'd be somebody else's mom! (I was actually teary-eyed leaving the shore last year.) October 11 was the one-year anniversary of my last day of work and October 12 was the one-year anniversary of the start of my maternity leave. Then on our fourth wedding anniversary I recalled our last anniversary, our third, where I had contractions ALL THROUGH DINNER. I thought the baby was coming soon! Ha, he showed me. I went into labor exactly one month after our anniversary. Now that November is here I am just blown away. I don't have a baby anymore. I have a little boy! He is so sweet. He continues to be a snuggler and a real Mama's boy. I am his favorite person in the world, as it should be. He has some separation anxiety when I drop him off in the morning but I discovered if I put him right into a high chair with his buddy G and he gets to start eating breakfast (bagels or pancakes or biscuits, etc.) he just watches me leave with no tears. Whew! It was really hard leaving before that because he'd come crying and crawling after me and that image would be stuck in my head the rest of the day and I'd feel so guilty. Meanwhile, he'd be fine in a minute or two. G's mom sent me a text one day to tell me she saw him smiling on her way out, which was probably a minute after I left so I know the tears don't last long, but it's hard for my heart to understand that. It is so much easier to leave when he has this, "Bye, Mom, I've got G and breakfast" look on his face. Speaking of G, N had his first playdate with G on 10/20 at G's house. They were cute together, of course both wanting the toy the other one has at all times. I heard a funny story about N at school too. Awhile back I heard that G taught N to go around to the cribs and bang on them to wake the sleeping babies! Ha ha! Well, one day a new teacher told me how G and N (11 days apart) are "two peas in a pod." She said G fell asleep and N went and sat beside his crib for awhile and then started banging on it (guess he wanted his buddy to play!). How cute is that? He is not walking but he seems like he could if he wanted to. He can freely stand without holding on but he usually quickly drops to a crawl or holds on to a chair or table or whatever is available. I thought he'd be walking by now because he's been cruising for months but I know he'll be even harder to keep up with once he does. We are planning his party for 11/11, eight days early but that is just how the scheduling worked out. I don't quite feel prepared enough. I am guessing we have about 35-40 people at this point but I don't have a final count yet. For his birthday we got him the cutest little chair and ottoman that pretty closely matches our living room furniture. He has already seen it and he mostly uses it as a stepping stool to get to the end table and to grab whatever is on there. He continues to be fascinated by paper products. He LOVES to grab a circular, napkin, power towel, piece of paper, etc. and just rip it to shreds. I catch him trying to eat it too. All things must be tasted! Then when it comes to real food he often throws it. I was having a somewhat rough time trying to get him to eat meat. He would just toss it without even tasting it. Tonight his dad handed him a piece of lamb from his gyro and to my surprise and delight (even though I do not eat lamb or veal for that matter) N chowed down on the lamb. Then I gave him some of my pot roast (we were at a diner) and he ate that too. This was just minutes after throwing a hard-boiled egg and a peach slice. Meat is what is important at this age anyway so I'm very happy. For Halloween he dressed up as a monster. He got quite a lot of mileage out of his costume. Hurricane Sandy whipped through here Monday and trick-or-treating was postponed in our area on Wednesday so we went tonight. But he got to wear his costume to Boo at the Zoo last Saturday (his second trip to zoo!) and to daycare on Wednesday. We took him to my parents' on Sunday and to my MIL's tonight in costume as well. He looked quite adorable. And coincidentally G's mom bought him the same costume so they matched at school! He is working on tooth #5 and I think tooth #6 right now. It is really hard to get in there to see! Hubby texted me the other day that he had five teeth and I was surprised! I hadn't seen it just the day before. They take awhile to get all the way in though that is for sure. He started blowing raspberries again yesterday; they are quite amusing to me because I can't do one to save my life! I don't remember when but he stopped growling some months back; that was funny too! My boy sure makes me laugh...and smile.

Time is flying!

I am so sad how I have nearly abandoned this blog. I think about it and I make mental notes of what to post but then finding the time to actually do so is another matter! We now have a 10.5-month-old little guy. He is getting into everything. He cruises along the furniture, stands up in his crib, pulls up on everything (even people's legs and has been known to nearly de-pants his teacher). He hasn't taken his first steps yet but that is OK with Mama! He is working on the upper two teeth. The lower two came in late July/early August. His newest word is "bear" as in "Mama Bear." S calls me "Bear" as a nickname and N has taken to copying his dada. So S yells, "Bear" and N follows with "Ahhhr." He misses the 'b' which is funny beause the first sound I heard him make was a 'b' sound at a young age. He is such a joy. He has a bit of a cold right now so he's extra cuddly. I walked into his classroom yesterday to find him curled up against his teacher with his blanket. She said she had been feeding another baby and N went to his crib, pulled his blanket through the slats, and went and sat at her feet and cried until she picked him up. He even brought the blanket home with him! He would not let go. Today he ate a piece of a deposit slip. I don't think I'm in the running for mom of the year but that is OK. In addition to paper (deposit slips, napkins, paper towels, advertisements, mail, etc.), he also loves electrical cords and anything else he should not be touching. He loves to pull all the CDs off the shelf and bang things very loudly on the floor. He waves hi and bye quite often now. He used to just move his whole arm up and down. Now he does more of the finger bending, you know? It is so cute; some days when I pick him up he will wave at me with both hands and then make a beeline crawling to me (head down, all very serious). It cracks me up and melts my heart. He has a posse at school now; he and two other babies (one 11 days older) move in a pack and get into everything. They make me laugh. We are going to have a playdate with the one 11 days older than him later this month. He was over 22 pounds at his last check-up. What a big boy! He is doing much better with table food now and solids in general, probably as of August. He just wasn't all that interested before. In early September he had a reaction to peanut butter. He tasted a tiny smidgen; he loves to grab whatever I'm eating and have a taste too. He broke out in hives on his nose, mouth, and neck. I was so scared! The on-call doctor suggested he was OK if he wasn't acting uncomfortable and if his breathing was OK and sure enough, he was OK. He loves the water. We went swimming three times this year and two of the times he fell asleep! He must find it very relaxing! He was not very fond of the ocean though; it was very rough the one day we went. We are planning his first birthday party, which is going to have a rubber ducky theme. The invitations are being designed and are almost ready. I cannot wait! We rented a community room near us and I'm looking forward to it very much, although not looking forward to my baby being grown. The first year is just so amazing!

We have a crawler!

It's amazing when I look back at these last 7.5 months from a tiny helpless baby to a crawling boy who is getting into everything! On June 30th N crawled on our bed but on the floor still just did his rocking on hands and knees. And then on the evening of July 1st he was in the living room and spotted me doing laundry. He was crying for me and I was planning on getting him very soon but was just trying to switch a load of laundry before putting him to bed. Well, I guess he got tired of waiting for me. "Mamamama," he cried and started crawling towards me. S saw him coming and alerted me. We were both amazed. I am pleased he is developing so quickly and well, sad the days of my little baby are gone, and nervous I won't be able to keep him safe! He does well in his Pack n Play playing with his toys. It's so funny because it looks like he's talking to them. Upstairs if we're both busy up there we'll (most likely my husband will) put him in the crib with some toys for awhile and he'll play up there as well. He also loves to sit in his Bumbo and watch a little movie on my Kindle Fire via Netflix streaming. I don't do that often. On Fourth of July my aunt told me about a little snack for babies called Mum-Mums that her day care charges like so we bought those for him on Saturday. I gave him one on Sunday. He took a bite and put the re!st in his toy bin. Ha ha! But then I gave him another one later and he ate almost the whole thing. He had some yesterday and today at day care too and loved them according to his teacher. She keeps telling me how he is not interested in his rice cereal. I just want to say, "See?" I did not want to give it to him but finally caved to the pressure. I want to do baby led weaning and rice cereal is decidedly not BLW but I was worried about him there all day barely eating. We stayed home Monday because I was sick again. Sigh. I threw up in the morning and felt nauseous so I stayed home. The Monday before I had to pick him up in the afternoon for throwing up (which I really think was nothing). I'm really using up my days which makes me nervous! I forget when this started but he growls. It is so funny. His teacher told me about it but he'd already been doing it awhile. He also is "talking" more and more, making noises that sound like words. Yesterday it sounded like he said, "Hey, you." S and I were cracking up!

Seven months!

Our little dude is now seven months (and one week) old! I wanted to take some time to update. Before I do that though I need to update with his six-month stats that we got on 5/30 at his six-month check-up. He is 19 pounds, 9 ounces, and 27 3/4" tall and his head circumference is 17". So he still has an average size head but is very tall and heavy for his age. Everyone says he looks like he is one year old already! He is going to be crawling any day now, although I feel like I've been saying that well over a week now. I think he can crawl but he just doesn't know it yet. From a seated position he'll reach for something and then he'll be on all fours. He kind of goes backwards or he'll just flop on his belly or he'll go back to a seated position. He gets all over though for not being able to crawl. He is an incredibly happy boy. He smiles a lot, laughs all the time, and is just very pleasant for the most part (until he gets tired but things around are too busy for him to fall asleep!). This past month was a big one for us! We moved him to his crib on June 7. The first night was pretty bad. I had a feeling it would be since every time I just put him in his crib for fun (it had been assembled for a bit) he would scream. So the first night he only lasted three hours. The next night was six. And then the next night was nine! Yippee! We also transitioned him to convertible car seats in June. For my husband's car we put my nephew's in on June 10. And then the following Sunday (June 17) he installed mine (a new True Fit from the First Years). He looks adorable in there. I do feel bad when he falls asleep and his head bobs all over. It is slightly reclined but he doesn't seem to know that. Ha ha. He says "ma ma ma" but I don't think it means "Mommy" although my husband insists it does. It is his hunger cry. He reaches for me and says it when he is hungry. Poor little N was sick again last week. On Wednesday I got a call around 4:15 saying he had a 102.3-degree fever and I had to come pick him up. I stayed with him on Thursday and S stayed with him on Friday and my mom came over Friday afternoon to sit with N for a bit since S had a conference call. I'm sure my mom was thrilled. N is like their first grandchild all over again! He is the only one they get to see on a regular basis (weekly at least). Anyway N did not want to sleep in his crib when he was sick. He would turn into a koala and just cling to my arm and not let go. We did let him sleep in our bed a few nights. I still kind of wish we did that all the time but I have to admit he and I both sleep better in our beds. He sleeps through the night often in his crib. Last night he slept nearly 11 hours straight! We started BLW on May 27. Avocado was the first food. He also eats rice cereal mixed with breast milk and baby yogurt at school every day. He is OK when I get there at lunch but when I get there after work he still seems ravenous. He still loves to nurse! I don't think he is really consuming much "real" food except the yogurt he eats at school. He loves to suck on lemons, little nut. He grabs them from our glasses and sucks on them. The ensuing faces are quite hilarious! He has also tried asparagus (same face as lemons), steak, applesauce, rice cakes, carrots, broccoli, snap peas (is that what they're called?), and I'm not sure what else. He mostly likes to lick stuff which I guess is all part of it. He is drinking better from a cup now. He still never took to a bottle. I do ask them to keep trying at school. I don't think it's good he goes that long. Then all evening I'm nursing him, which is fine but I feel like I can't go anywhere or get anything done. This will not last forever though and I do enjoy nursing him. I have to say though I think I'll be more vigilant with giving any future babies a bottle more regularly. I do not know if it would have made a difference with N or not because he did take one and then just stop. Speaking of future children I am still not fertile again. My LMP was 1/30/11. It feels weird to say that on 6/26/12!

Sick again!

Ugh! I just posted about sicknesses and then I got hit with another! When I picked up our baby on Wednesday there was a 10-month-old who was vomiting. A few hours later I got nauseous and two hours after that I was vomiting. It went on for awhile (1:00 a.m., then 9:00 a.m., 10:00 a.m., etc.). I was really scared I was going to be dehydrated! My milk supply had already taken a hit from being sick the week before. I called the doctor's office to ask about what I should do and the receptionist said the doctor would want to see me. Ugh. I did not know how I'd make it there without vomiting but I did. She gave me a 1:30 appointment and up until that point I couldn't keep anything down. I'd try to run my tongue over my teeth and it wouldn't even glide; it just got stuck. My lips felt really dry too. I was still vomiting when the doctor came in. She told me something was going around (forget what it was called) and that the vomiting should stop in a few hours. But she said if I didn't start keeping fluids down and start urinating I'd need to go to the ER for fluids. She prescribed me Zofran and I went to the pharmacy to pick it up and I got some fruit bars while I was there. I took the Zofran and ate a fruit bar and to my surprise it stayed down. I tried drinking some Gatorade too and that stayed down. I did not throw up again after that! I started feeling better and better so I did not have to go to the ER. Whew! I was afraid of how much that would cost but of course if I needed to I would have. The little dude was so cute tonight! We went out to eat and we put him in a high chair with a high chair/shopping cart cover my sister lent to me. Oh, he thought he was big stuff! So cute. He was just grinning and grinning. First he tried to eat his kids' menu. It was so funny because the waiter was asking us if he wanted apple juice or a kid's meal and he hasn't even had any solid food yet. He was very good! This was his third time in a high chair at a restaurant. When we went out for brother-in-law's birthday and again for Mother's Day dinner with mother-in-law we did the same thing.

Six months...and sicknesses.

It's been so long since I posted! I just have no time anymore. Life is good, just very very busy. It's rushing out the door with baby in car seat, pump and pump parts, changes of clothes and bottles for him, dropping him at day care, getting to work, pumping, running back at lunch to nurse, pumping again, picking him up, nursing, nursing, nursing, washing bottles, putting him to bed, and starting all over again. His sleep is not great right now. Some nights he'll sleep all night and then other nights he wakes several times. He just nurses and goes right back to sleep except a few times when he was sick (more on that in a bit). My little guy is continuing to learn and grow and delight us in every way. He is doing well at day care. In fact, I had my first parent-teacher conference yesterday. He is doing well in every area except self-feeding (ha! he hasn't had regular food yet and he still hates bottles so of course he is not going to feed himself a bottle). He sits very well now for long periods of time. He rolls over occasionally. When he first learned both ways he did it once and that was it. Now he is doing it more. He loves his Exersaucer and sitting his Bumbo seat next to a basket of toys. He pulls them out one by one and plays with each for a bit and then when the toys are gone he wails. He is so cute. He is a very happy baby. In the day care I notice many of the babies are very serious. Not my boy! He grins at everyone. He is definitely my son! I'm such a smiler! He got pinkeye on Friday night, April 20. We called the doctor Saturday morning when it was obvious what it was and they had us come in. He started an antibiotic eye drop and his eye started clearing up right away. I did stay home with him that Monday. Two weeks after the first time his eye started oozing green. I thought it was pinkeye again but wasn't sure so I called the doctor on call (not his normal doctor). She said it sounded like pinkeye and to start the drops again. Well, his eyes got worse instead of better. I wound up staying home with him that Monday as well. I called the doctor to say it was getting worse instead of better and they asked me to bring him in. It was already late in the day so I made an appointment for Tuesday and my husband stayed home with him Tuesday and took him to the doctor. This time he was prescribed oral amoxicillin (the pink bubblegum-flavored stuff) which he needed to take twice a day for a week for a bacterial infection. It was horrible trying to get that stuff into him! He would cry like he was being tortured, gargle it, spit half of it back out, you name it. He was starting to do better and then on Monday (the 14th) I got sick with sinusitis. I went to the doctor Wednesday and took him with me just so she could look at him but she said he was fine and there was nothing we could do for his cough (we both had terrible coughs!). I got my own prescription for amoxicillin and within a day I started feeling better, at least from the sinus pain/pressure. The cough hung around for days. The day after I went to the doctor I noticed a gooey discharge coming from his ear when I picked him up at day care. I asked the teacher who was there if she noticed it (it had not been there at lunch time)and she said she did not notice it. It ran all night but he seemed happy and not in any pain. I asked my husband if he thought he was having an ear infection but he thought if he was it would be hurting the baby and he was fine. So against my better judgment I took him to day care. I felt like I couldn't miss any more work as I missed Tuesday & Wednesday of that week. Well, I got a call sometime between 10:00 and 10:30 from the day care telling me about the discharge and I asked if I should come get him or call the doctor or what. They said to call the doctor and call back. Well, of course they said to bring him in. I called my husband and asked him to take him in. Not long after I got an earache that I just couldn't ignore! I wound up leaving work not long after and met my husband and son at home. And I got the news that our baby had a burst eardrum! Poor little guy. So he got more antibiotics, azithromycin, 4 mL one day and then 2 mL the next four days so he finished that yesterday. Through it all he has had a nasty cough and a runny nose. I feel bad for him! He is in pretty good spirits though; you wouldn't really know he is sick. It's just been one thing after another. In other news his high chair is all assembled and we are getting ready to start him on solids! We are planning to do baby-led weaning which is letting the baby feed him/herself, no purees, no shoved spoons, etc. We have avocado and some broccoli which I'll steam. Of course we'll wait four days in between new foods in case there is an allergic reaction. I wanted to start tonight but my hubby can't find the cord for the video camera and it needs to be charged. I don't want to miss this moment on film! Well, I'm going to get back to American Idol! I should go to bed but I have to know who won. :)